


That Is Upset

by onemechanicalalligator



Category: Space Force (TV)
Genre: Ficlet, Fix-It, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25019302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onemechanicalalligator/pseuds/onemechanicalalligator
Summary: Someone needs to teach Mark about emotional validation.Or: I hate how Mark acted in "Lunar Habitat" and this is my attempt to redeem him.
Relationships: Adrian Mallory & Mark R. Naird
Comments: 7
Kudos: 30





	That Is Upset

Mark Naird is anxious to get home after his week in the lunar habitat, but he stops in his office before leaving to make sure everything is in order. When he opens the door, he finds Adrian Mallory sitting on the couch, feet up, waiting for him.

“Welcome home,” Mallory drawls. “You survived a week on the moon.”

“It was nothing,” Mark scoffs. “I nailed it.”

“You do remember that you were being observed the entire time,” Mallory comments, eyebrows raised. “Or perhaps the phrase ‘nailing it’ means something different to you?”

“There were a few blips,” Mark admits. “But we got through it.”

“That’s what I’d like to speak with you about,” Mallory says. “The blips.”

“Do we have to talk about it _now?”_ Mark asks, irritated. “I want to get home to Erin. It’s already late.” _And if she didn’t clean the kitchen,_ he thinks, _the house is probably swarming with ants._

“We do have to talk about it now, because it’s something that probably affects Erin, and that’s why I’m concerned.”

“Concerned?” Mark asks defensively. “About what?”

“You aren’t going to want to hear this, and you’re going to get angry. But I’m going to tell you anyway, and you’d better fucking listen, because this is very important.” Mallory speaks with an air of calm, even though his words are biting.

“I’m listening,” Mark says grumpily, but he crosses his arms over his chest and remains standing, so that he towers over Mallory.

“You do not get to decide what other people get upset about,” Mallory says, looking Mark dead in the eye as he speaks.

“Now--”

“I’m not finished. I understand that you’ve seen and experienced things that no one should see or experience. And those things have shaped you, and how you see the world. And that’s fine. That’s what happens. But your experiences do not invalidate other peoples’ feelings.”

“Hold--”

“I’m still talking, Mark. Your daughter is a teenager. She’s going to come to you with problems. She probably already has. And some of those are going to feel like the end of the world to her. And maybe she’s overreacting sometimes, and maybe sometimes she’s not. But she trusts you, and she goes to you when she’s in trouble, and what do you think is going to happen when she comes to you and says, ‘This thing happened, and I’m so upset,’ and your response is, ‘Your feelings don't matter, because I’ve had it worse than you?’ Have you had that conversation with her yet? Because God help me, I’ll help pay for her therapy if you have.”

“I have not,” Mark says stiffly. “Maggie always had those talks with her. And we haven’t had much opportunity for heart-to-hearts over the last year.”

“Good,” Mallory says. “Because I know you love your daughter, and that’s why we’re having this conversation right now.”

“I don’t want Erin to be soft,” Mark argues. “I don’t want her to think that a boy not asking her to prom is worse than getting your plane shot down in Bosnia.”

“Of course it isn’t. But she doesn’t understand that. She doesn’t have that frame of reference. Hopefully, she never will. She’ll have her own problems, and they’ll be independent of yours or anyone else’s. And your job isn’t to police her feelings. If not getting asked to prom feels like the end of the world to her, then that’s what it feels like to her, and there’s nothing you can do to change that. You have to learn how to _support her anyway._ And keep your own shit out of it.”

Mark doesn’t know how to react, so he doesn’t react at all. He just stands up straight and tries to process what Mallory is saying. He _hates_ it when Mallory is right, and at this moment he’s pretty well convinced that Mallory _is_ right and it’s very frustrating.

“You’ve really _never_ had this conversation before?” Mallory asks, incredulous. “With _anyone?”_

“No, I haven’t,” Mark says. “I, uh, usually leave the room before we get that far.”

“Oh, so you do have some self-awareness!” Mallory claps his hands together, sounding delighted. “That’s excellent, I was starting to get really worried.”

“Jesus, Adrian, what do you take me for?”

Mallory pats the couch next to him, and Mark sits down.

“I took you for a man worthy of my highest respect, right up until you shouted at your companions and invalidated their emotions. The emotions I’ve spent the last two years having them record, because I recognize the consequences of bottling them up.”

Mark doesn’t say anything. He’s replaying that scene over and over in his head, and each time he does he comes out looking worse.

“Is it fair to say you now recognize those consequences as well?” Mallory asks gently.

“I guess I do,” Mark admits.

“That’s good.”

“I don’t want to mess things up with Erin,” Mark says. “I don’t...there was no manual or class or anything, you know, after they arrested Maggie. No crash course on how to raise a teenage girl. I don’t _know_ these things.”

“But it sounds like you’re finally willing to learn,” Mallory says. “And that’s very respectable.”

“I should go home,” Mark sighs. “She’s probably waiting for me. I hope she’s waiting for me. I yelled at her last time I saw her.”

Both men stand up and head out of the office and down the stairs.

“It will be just fine,” Mallory says reassuringly. “You should be more worried about whether she threw a party and destroyed the house while you were away.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Mark says, and then lowers his voice. “I don’t think she knows enough people to throw a real party. Don’t tell her I said that.”

“Goodnight, General,” Mallory says with a smile. “Welcome back to Earth.”

“Goodnight, Dr. Mallory. It’s good to be home.”


End file.
